Monday, January 1. 2007
It's hard enough to believe that a year has already gone by so quickly - but 10 years?
kingsnake.com turns 10 years old in February, and we're celebrating with a number of substantial changes to all our communities.
MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC! Yes, we will dive even further into the music world with our club kingsnake site with more reviews, interviews, and both video and audiocasts. We will continue to explore the interaction between reptiles and rock and roll, and we will continue to seek out interesting tattoo photos as well.
As the site gels more, we keep adding features (such as the new music forums), and will be launching a new series of contests, including an even bigger and better photo contest. If you haven't checked lately, our music photo gallery now has more than 15,000 concert photos. Last year's photo contest really perked up the variety with everyone from Slayer to the Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osborne, Van Halen and tons and tons of other bands and artists. Take a look at the gallery for more
We continue to seek out people interested in writing about music, taking concert pictures, videotape interviews, and the like. If you ever wanted to say "I'm with the press," get concert tickets, CDs, DVDs, and special access, heck sometimes even meet famous people, then we may have a role for you. We are especially looking for people in high school and college journalism classes, but hey, if you can write or take good pictures, we'll find a place for you. We also have some technical and administrative roles to fill, so if you want to help out, let us know. We are especially looking for people in the following areas:
- Seattle, WA
- Los Angeles, CA (Southern California)
- Chicago, IL
- New York, NY
- Vancouver B.C., Canada
kingsnake Canada and kingsnake Europe are going away We will be closing our geo sites and rolling such features as the forums, classifieds and business directory listings into our main sites. Our analysis has shown that we have far more European and Canadian users on our main site than the smaller sites and our ad serving technology will allow us to target banner advertising to a geographical level soon, negating our need for a separate site. These sites will close within the first two weeks of the new year, so watch for your features to move/return to the main kingsnake.com site shortly.
New site designs Perhaps the most significant change will be the complete redesigns of our web sites to take advantage of technological improvements both to our hardware and software systems in our server farm, and the upgraded hardware and software capabilities of your desktops. Most noticeable will be that we are increasing page width to utilize most of a 1024 pixel screen. Less obvious will be improvements such as the use of cascading style sheets, more databases, improvements to the registration and login systems, and upgraded feature sets to existing platforms such as your user profile . Our design goals are to improve the look and feel of the site, while improving its functionality and navigation, and still feel "familiar" enough to not get lost.
We plan on implementing the new site designs as early as the end of first quarter 2007, and the upgrade will continue through the end of second quarter (March-June 2007).
New banner ad size specifications The new site design will require that we significantly alter our existing banner sizes and specification, locations, and in some cases availability. Some banners are going away completely, some will be in new locations, but ALL banners will need to be modified to the new specs when released. Specs should be released at the end of January with implementation beginning in late February, early March (planned). The new banner ad specifications will conform to the IAB standardized banner sizes. Please do not begin modifying your banners until the specifications are released, as the designs and placement will not be determined until then.
Changes to sponsorships We will changing our text sponsorships based on the new site and page designs, but as yet are unsure what specific changes will be implemented. Specifications and placement options will be released at the end of January as well, once the site designs are firmer.
New features We will continue experimenting both with our own and a few select user submitted videos, and we are also reviewing several other interesting features as well. Plans are now in the works to interview numerous noted herpers, a celebrity or two, to take a number of field trips to see some reptiles in the wild, and to visit some zoos and breeding facilities. Keep an eye on the site for more details.
Changes to the classifieds In an effort to improve our vendor screening process, we will be implementing what is known as "Registered Business" program. People wishing to advertise as a business or using a business name will need to be able to document that they have legally registered their business name with the appropriate governmental agencies to our staff. In the majority of cases this can be done online, as most states now have business registration information available. Further details about this program will be released as we get closer to the implementation date. Bottom line, though: if you haven't legally registered your business name yet do so now, because in the near future it will be a requirement if you want to use it here.
Changes to the laws Recent changes in the law now REQUIRE us to maintain copies all documentation we receive and send, and everything that is posted to our websites and make it available upon subpoena. We have already been doing this for years but please consider this your formal notice that by law we archive everything posted to our web sites and everything that our staff emails or receives and this information is available to anyone with a legally issued subpoena whether they be law enforcement or otherwise. These documents are available to anyone enforcing wildlife laws, business code violations, trademark or copyright infringement, or even civil contract disputes. Please keep this in mind using our systems and emailing our staff.
Events we are scheduled to attend We will be attending a number of trade shows and events this year, as well as having a booth or sponsoring others. For 2007 you will see us for sure at the following:
- NARBC Reptile Expo & Sale in Arlington, Texas - - Feb 17-18, 2007
- SXSW Music/Film/Interactive 2007 in Austin, Texas - - March 9-18, 2007
- International Herpetological Symposium in Toronto, Ontario - - June 20-23, 2007
- National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona Beach, Florida - - August 18-20, 2007
- NARBC Reptile Expo & Sale in Anaheim, California - - Sept 8-9, 2007
- NARBC Reptile Expo & Sale in Tinley Park, Illinois - - October 13-14, 2007
The staff and volunteers of OnlineHobbyist.com would like to wish all of our users and sponsors a safe and prosperous new year.
